Battle Meditation
by El Stormo
Summary: Started as a story which may have been done before or it might not be completely in line with canon here and there, but frankly, I care not. Maybe I'll continue it all the way to the Starforge, we'll see.
1. Incisor

**ONE**

**Inside a combat transport**

**13:22**

"Bastila! I need to know _now_!" Faryl yelled from the cockpit, turning his head to the back of the ship. Another laser blast smashed into the _Incisor_ and Faryl cursed as he desperately attempted to dodge another one.

The Jedi sitting on the benches against the walls of the troop module exhibited different kinds of behaviour. Some had their eyes screwed shut, others muttered mantras of some kind, two of them looked out of the _Incisor_'s transparisteel windows with eyes wide with fear, and yet others had their eyes locked on the meditating figure in the middle.

A red light started flashing on the _Incisor_'s heads-up display. Faryl growled an obscenity and sent the combat transport into a wild spin to avoid the incoming laser fire. Next to him, the Twi'lek co-pilot rattled information into Faryl's ear in her strange language.

"I know," Faryl snapped. "I'm not blind, damnit!"

One of the Jedi leaned over to his neighbour and whispered, "that red light means our shields are down." The other Jedi gnawed her lower lip a little bit harder.

"_Bastila_!" Faryl attempted again. But the meditating Jedi still did not stir. Frustrated, Faryl then directed his anger at the Zabrak manning the gun turret, on the upper deck. "What the Hell is Dar-Vek doing up there? Trying to impress those fighters with a laser show?"

Another blast hit the _Incisor_, much louder this time due to the absence of shields. An alarm started tweeting. The Twi'lek co-pilot started spouting more information at Faryl.

"Then we'll fly _without_ long-range sensors!" Faryl barked. Then, under his breath, "it doesn't matter anyway, the only thing we can use those sensors for now is to broadcast our last words back to the _Claymore_."

A Sith fighter whined past overhead, only to be destroyed by the _Incisor_'s penta-laser. "About time that Zabrak gearhead did something useful," Faryl grunted. The fact that the 'Zabrak gearhead' had blasted more fighters into space dust than Faryl had successfully dodged turbolaser blasts did nothing to lower Faryl's need to sling around random insults.

"The break between those two Corsairs," a calm and refined voice said softly. "Dive into it."

Faryl turned his head toward the meditating Jedi on the troop module floor. "You've _got_ to be joking! If we fly in between those two things, their turbolasers will grind us to bits!"

The Jedi's eyes were still closed. "Trust me, Faryl."

The Echani pilot shook his head. "Fine. At least then I can blame our deaths on you."

The Jedi's lips moved in a faint smile.

"Here goes! Hope you all went to the bathroom before we left!" Faryl yelled as he jerked the steering yoke and sent the _Incisor_ roaring toward the opening between the two frigates. The comlink connected to the turret started relaying the Zabrak gunner's hysterical shrieks. "Are you crazy, Faryl?! What in the Sarlacc pits are you doing?!"

Faryl jabbed his finger at the comlink's "squelch"-button and wondered what those Corsairs' captains must be thinking right now. A brave and bold combat transport racing toward them at top speed, followed by several Sith fighters. They must look completely suicidal.

Several turbolasers were already firing at them, and missing spectacularly. Faryl dodged and weaved as best as he could, but it was almost as if the turbolasers didn't _want_ to hit them. He spared a quick glance at the meditating woman in the back. Lines were creasing her forehead and beads of sweat were forming on it.

One of the Sith fighters was vaporized by a lucky friendly fire blast. Well, unlucky for the Sith, obviously. With a deft maneuver, Faryl managed to ram the flimsy Sith fighter flying next to them, sending it careening into one of the Corsairs. The third was broken in two by the _Incisor_'s pentalasers. The Corsairs' turbolasers continued to fire like mad, but the only thing that struck them was a harmless glancing hit on the lower hull. Another turbolaser bolt flashed right past the cockpit, and then they were through, zipping between the two frigates and toward the two capital ships they had been defending.


	2. Against the Paladin

**TWO**

**The _Incisor_**

**13:24**

"The _Leviathan_ is the one on the right," the meditating Jedi said in her controlled, cultured voice. "That's Malak's ship, but we've come for Revan. The ship on the left is the _Paladin_. That's the one we'll be boarding."

"If we get that far," Faryl added quietly.

"We will," the Jedi said, another hint of a smile playing around the corners of her mouth ever so slightly. Damn Jedi and their keen senses.

The _Leviathan_ and the _Paladin_ hung in the blackness of space before them, a blackness only pierced by the battling ships' turbolasers. A smaller Republic cruiser had, for some reason, dared to go toe-to-toe with the _Leviathan. _The large destroyer's lasers pummeled the smaller ship's hull, and as the _Incisor_ came close, the crew and Jedi saw the Republic cruiser break apart into ionized fragments, which slowly drifted away from each other, before breaking into more pieces.

"They've done their duty, so we can do ours," the meditating Jedi remarked. Faryl thought it was pretty cruel to dismiss the horrible, burning deaths of several hundred crewmen as merely useful. But then again, he was no Jedi, and he was probably unable to have such a high regard for duty that it made him minimalize the deaths of several hundred. Still, the Republic cruiser's incomprehensible suicide had bought them quite a lot of time to close in without being harassed by the _Leviathan_'s turbolasers. The positive thing about closing with such an enormous ship was that its turbolasers were heavy and slow, designed to beat on the armour of other large ships, and a smaller-sized combat transport could easily avoid them, given a capable pilot. It would take a lucky shot to actually hit the agile _Incisor_, but if one of those blasts did manage to find the ship's hull, well, suffice to say that there'd be a lot of lightsabers floating in space.

Faryl made the _Incisor_ veer off in the direction of Darth Revan's flagship. It was strange, but as he closed with the ship, dodging the slow turbolaser bolts, he felt a strange constricting sensation in his chest. It was as if he couldn't breathe in as deeply as he should. When he looked next to him, he saw that Elaka must be having the same feeling. Her eyes were narrowed and her face was pinched.

"It's Revan's influence," the Jedi said. She had risen and was standing behind the pilots' seats, her hands resting casually on the seats' backs. "It's only dangerous if you allow it to be. Don't let your imagination fool you into thinking it's anything more than a feeling and you'll be fine."

Faryl nodded, and as he tried to tell his mind the same things the Jedi had said, he felt the pressure on his chest ease. He moved the steering yoke sideways and the _Incisor_ lazily avoided more turbolaser fire.

"Why aren't they sending fighters, if their turbolasers do no good?"

"They've sent fighters, but I made sure they had other priorities."

Faryl shook his head. He never ceased to be amazed by those Jedi.

"We're close now. You can almost fly for home, Faryl."

He nodded. "I'll just drop you guys off, and go home, get me some kids, and tell 'em this story over and over until they beg for me not to tell that story _again_."

"Wish I could do the same."

The Twi'lek co-pilot added an incomprehensible comment.

"Not if you were the last woman in the galaxy, Elaka," Faryl replied with a grin as he dodged the last of the laser blasts and swept over the _Paladin_'s hull too closely for any turbolasers to be able to target them.

"There," the Jedi said, pointing at a smooth section of hull near the bridge.

"Sure you don't want me to insert you closer to the bridge?"

"No, the bridge has its own deflector shields and turrets, I'd rather not risk it."

Faryl gave a sharp nod and steered the _Incisor_ toward the spot the Jedi had pointed at. "Elaka, stand by to extend rakes!"

The Twi'lek babbled an acknowledgement and Faryl turned his head toward the Jedi in the troop module. "Alright, saber-swingers, hold on to the railings next to you, this might be a bit rough."

The _Incisor_ swept across the _Paladin_'s hull, and when Faryl yelled, "Eleka, rakes out… now!", the ship started bucking and shaking, and a screeching, grinding noise came from its underside. The ship slowed down and then came to an abrupt stop.

"I'll take the liberty of saying that this counts as a happy landing?" Faryl said, grinning at the Jedi in the back. The faces bore mixed expressions, but none of them seemed to agree with him. "Ah well. Elaka, stand by to engage ion cutter."

The Twi'lek nodded. Faryl rerouted the power from the engines to the cutting torch on the underside of the _Incisor_. "Engage ion cutter."

A sharp whining noise emerged from beneath the floor, lasting for several seconds before they heard a metal plate fall with a loud _clang_.

"Step away from the center of the floor, please?" Faryl asked with mock gallantry. The Jedi did so, and a hatch opened in the floor.

The leader of the Jedi nodded to the others. "Very well. Let's see what this ship and its inhabitants have in store for us, shall we?"


	3. Darth Revan

**THREE**

**The _Paladin_**

**13:30**

As the Jedi leapt down in the hatch, laser fire resounded from the space below, followed by the sounds of the Jedi's lightsabers activating and deflecting the bolts. After the last of the Jedi had gone down, Faryl slammed the hatch-switch down, ordered Elaka to retract the rakes and diverted the power of the ion cutter back toward the engines. The _Incisor_ activated its boosters and shot away from the ship it had clung to.

Eighteen Sith troopers lay dead, killed by their own blaster bolts, or by lightsaber. "There will be more soon," Bastila said to the others. "We must keep moving. This ship holds countless troops, and they will wear us down if we run into them too often."

"The bridge is this way," one of the other Jedi said, pointing down the corridor. She was young, with bright red hair and penetrating blue eyes. Vyka, her name was, and as always she was far too quick to act, too hasty, and not mindful of the paths and methods that were less obvious, and often, more effective.

Bastila shook her head. "They know we've boarded this ship, and they'll doubtless be anticipating that we'll head for the bridge. We'll have to take a detour."

Vyka stayed quiet and looked at the ground.

"Where to, then?" another said, looking around skittishly, his long blonde hair flopping on his head when he flicked it from one side of the corridor to another.

"The bridge deflector shield generators."

"I thought we were here to confront Revan, not have some big hunk of flying metal blast him into bits?" the burly Trandoshan hissed. Ssallsk had never been fond of space battles. Bastila wondered how he could have been considered for training with all his difficulty of keeping his anger in check. In battle, he was almost a wild animal, at least, so he appeared. It was a way of battle that looked as if it fit better with a Sith than with a Jedi. But she supposed the Council knew best.

"We're going for the deflector shields as a back-up plan, and also as a way of circumventing the bulk of the troops that we'll find between the bridge and here."

"A back-up plan?" the blond-haired Jedi asked.

Bastila nodded. "If we don't make it, then maybe one of the ships has he chance to fire at the bridge." Bastila didn't know that one of the ships would get that chance – and take it. "We'll need to find the central computer bank first."

"Whatever the case, let's go," a young albino Jedi said. "We'll be up to our ears in Sith if we stay here."

"Agreed," Bastila said. "Follow me." She ran off toward the main computer bank, the others following her.

While most of the Sith were busy blocking off the way to the bridge, there were still a fair number who had stayed behind to defend the computer bank. Vyka and Ssallsk leapt forward and struck down two of the troopers with their lightsabers. The young albino Jedi raised his hand and an unseen force launched two of the troopers through the air, slamming them into a large computer console behind them. The blond-haired Jedi (Bastila couldn't remember his name for the life of her) threw his saber at the two grenadiers in the back, striking them down in a bright green spiral. Bastila herself used her yellow double-bladed lightsaber (the envy of the Jedi in her strike team) to deflect the blaster bolts sent their way. In seconds, all the Sith troopers were killed, except the ones thrown into the computer console, who were out cold. Bastila quickly scanned the computer screens and ran to a nearby console.

"This is the one controlling the bridge deflector shields."

The albino Jedi shouldered past her and started manipulating the controls. He was the best at working computers, and he didn't even need to wait for Bastila to ask him to take care of it. "Damn," he grunted. "It's encrypted."

"Encrypted?" Vyka asked. "Why would they encrypt their own computer interfaces?"

"Probably knew we were coming." The albino said. Then he looked up at Bastila. "Looks like Revan had anticipated we'd do that."

Bastila nodded. "How long will it take you to beat some sense into this machine?"

The albino hesitated. "I don't know. Whoever did it, did a pretty good job of it. I can't say how long it'll take." He thought for a while. "Riij, you can jam the locks on those doors, right?"

The blond Jedi nodded. "Shouldn't take long."

"I'll stay here," the albino said, "You guys get to Revan. I'll come after you when I get this thing to lower the bridge deflectors."

"Are you sure?" Bastila asked. The other merely gave a curt nod, and Bastila tossed him a comlink.

"Let's go then," Vyka snapped. We're wasting time."

Riij had little trouble locking the doors shut and making the locks inoperable. That way, the Sith would have to blow open the doors to get in, and with some luck, they wouldn't have thorium charges on board.

"Let's _go_," Vyka whined.

"She's right. Let's go give the Dark Side a kick in the groin!" Ssallsk concurred.

"You two take it easy," Riij barked. "Bastila's in charge of this mission!"

"It's alright, Riij. I think it's indeed time to go have a chat with Darth Revan."

While they ran, Riij asked Bastila, "Have you ever seen Revan?"

"No," she said. "Only Malak. Revan had already departed for the Mandalorian wars when I joined the Order. Malak came back to recruit more Jedi, but Revan remained in the Outer Rim to oversee the fighting."

"The bridge will be heavily defended," Ssallsk said. "Make sure you don't hold back."

He was right. The bridge was defended by two squads of Elite Sith troopers in bright red armour. They weren't experienced in fighting Jedi, but they had seen more battle per person than all the Jedi combined. When they spotted the strike team, they got behind cover and opened fire with their heavy repeating blasters. Bastila and Riij had all the trouble in the world trying to deflect the high-velocity bolts. Vyka leapt over the Sith' barricade and struck down several of the troopers from behind. She swung her lightsaber at the commander of the first squad, but he parried her blow with the vibrosword he had quickly drawn. Most weapons would have been cut in two by the lightsaber's blade, but the vibrosword had been fashioned with a special Echani cortosis weave that protected the blade from being damaged by the lightsaber. The commander was no Jedi, but he was nevertheless highly skilled with his weapon, and Vyka was forced into the defensive as he swung several blows at her.

Ssalsk, in the meantime, was busy darting from cover to cover to avoid the heavy blasters. When he ducked behind a pillar to wait for a break in the salvo, a small, round object rolled into his shoe. He could do nothing more than widen his eyes before the frag grenade went off. Ssallsk's lower body was blown to shreds, and his upper body was dead before it hit the ground.

Bastila had seen Ssallsk's demise from the corner of her eye, and realized that it had to be finished quickly. Drawing the Force inward, she launched her double-bladed lightsaber at the troops with the heavy repeaters, and her weapon, flying brightly in a yellow swathe, beheaded the entire squad. The remaining troopers continued firing, and Bastila had to duck behind cover before her weapon returned to her hand. Vyka finally found an opening in the Sith commander's defense and her blue lightsaber struck him down. Riij, at last, gave up his defensive stance and charged at the troopers, cutting them down, but not without taking a blaster bolt to the shoulder. After his charge, he went down, clutching his shoulder. The two remaining troopers fell to Vyka's blade.

"Are you alright?" Bastila asked Riij.

"Do I look alright?!" he barked back, clutching his shoulder, smoke coming out between his fingers. "And does Ssallsk look alright?!"

"Calm down," Vyka snapped irritably. "You're acting like a twelve-year-old."

"Ssallsk is _dead_, damn it!" Riij shouted, eyes wide with panic.

Bastila lay her hand on his shoulder. "Be still, Riij."

He was so panicked he didn't even realize she was using the Force to calm him. His breathing slowed and his eyes regained their clarity. "I'm… I'm sorry. I didn't know what came over me."

"Panic. It happens. Don't worry about it. Can we count on you against Revan?"

Riij weakly nodded. "I'll bite the pain."

Bastila smiled warmly. "You'll be fine."

Vyka already stood by the bulkhead that led to the bridge, her lightsaber out, waiting for the word from Bastila to ram her weapon into the crossbars sealing the door.

Bastila and Riij stood next to her, and Bastila nodded. Vyka pushed her blade into the bulkhead.

Darth Revan already stood facing them, arms crossed. Bastila entered the bridge, with Vyka and Riij flanking her.

"Darth Revan," Bastila said coldly. "You're smaller than I expected." And this was no mere taunt. She really had expected a towering hulking figure, and the one standing before them was short and lightly built.

Revan didn't react. But even with the dark robes and the black mask that looked to be a personal modification of an old Mandalorian design, Darth Revan's coldness was tangible, flowing out like physical tendrils.

Bastila readied her lightsaber, and the two padawan next to her did the same. "You can't win, Revan," she simply said.

Without a word, Revan readied a bright red lightsaber. It was a special design, almost as tall as a man and flaring far more brightly than any saber Bastila had ever seen.

"Let's get him!" Vyka said through gritted teeth.

"Last chance, Revan," Bastila said, her voice still even and devoid of emotion. "If you surrender now, you will receive a fair trial."

Revan only stood awaiting the Jedi's attack.

"Very well. You leave us no choice."

Like a coiled spring, Vyka launched herself at Revan, clearing the distance between them with a powerful Force jump. Revan seemed unimpressed, and with simple hand motion, Vyka was suspended in the air. She was kicking the air and gripping her throat, making choking noises.

Bastila didn't have the ability to Force Jump, but her charge was fast nonetheless. Revan was forced to let go of Vyka to block her ferocious attack. The long lightsaber swung through the air, and Bastila was thrown back by the blow striking her lightsaber. Then Revan effortlessly deflected the lightsaber Riij had thrown.

Vyka had gotten back to her feet, and apparently wounded in her pride, she threw herself at the Sith again in a flash of bright red hair. Revan threw Bastila back with a Force Wave and caught Vyka's attack without too much effort. Vyka snarled and attacked again, but Revan's heavy lightsaber was faster. The blade caught her in the abdomen and sliced through her like she was as thin as the air around her, cutting her clean in two. Vyka's hands clawed the air as she fell down, her insides spilling across the bridge floor. She gave a choked gurgle and died.

Riij stopped in mid charge, staring wide-eyed at the dismembered Vyka, and it was as if his body simply refused to advance. Revan's free hand scooped up Vyka's lightsaber and with a backhanded throw, Vyka's weapon took the unfortunate petrified Jedi's head off.

Disoriented, Bastila heard the voice through her comlink say, "I've almost got it, Bastila!" She wasn't really in a position to care. Shaking her head to clear it, she quickly glanced around. Revan stood waiting, leaving her the time to take stock of the situation – which sadly worked to Revan's advantage, since the situation was bleak to say the least. The two Jedi that had been in the strike team to grant a numerical advantage against Revan and make sure the mission succeeded lay dead, both with one part separated from the other. And so she was alone, against an opponent she really had no chance of beating alone. Despair turned her heart to lead, but she gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on her lightsaber. Courage was what she needed, not despair. And if this was how it was supposed to end, she'd go down fighting and hopefully took a chunk out of Revan in the process.

"I've got it, Bastila! Bridge deflector shield is down!"

That was at least a positive note. The Republic ships weren't likely to be able to come very close, but still, it gave them a chance to do some heavy damage to the bridge if they _did _manage to get close – and hopefully, Revan would be in the middle of the damage. But if she'd let herself get slaughtered, she wouldn't be around to see it. And in this case, the best defense would be the attack.

"For the Republic!" Bastila yelled as she cleared the distance between her and Revan in a few leaps. She dealt a flurry of blows at Revan, but every one of them was parried without too much effort. A shockwave buffeted Bastila and she was propelled backward, slamming into the wall. Her vision blurred and she had to clear her head for the second time. As she did so, she saw the _Leviathan_ shift position and close with the _Paladin_. The _Leviathan_'s sensors had probably detected the bridge deflectors' failure. An odd maneuver, since moving his ship closer to his master's had very little protective value. But she didn't care about ships now, she cared about the duel she was fighting.

Revan had noticed the maneuver too, and appeared to be studying it.

"Revan!" Bastila shouted at the Sith's back, again holding her lightsaber before her. But Revan didn't turn toward her. Cautiously, Bastila advanced, but suddenly blasts of green light erupted from the _Leviathan, _ exploding into the bridge. Revan's arms went up in an instinctive protective stance, but as Bastila shielded her eyes, she saw Darth Revan being swallowed by the explosion.


	4. Death of the Endar Spire

**FOUR**

**The **_**Endar Spire**_

**several months later**

Jayna Averre didn't sleep well that night on the _Endar Spire_. Her dreams were troubled, a strange vision that kept repeating itself over and over, of a young female Jedi with a yellow double-bladed lightsaber striking three blows against a red lightsaber. At that point the dream would end, and she'd wake up feeling drained and confused. When she woke up yet again, she didn't know the how-manieth time it was, she got out of bed and trudged to the wash basin, a foul taste in her mouth and sand in her eyes. She splashed some water over her face, and drank several handfuls to get that dry taste out. Her stomach grumbled timidly, and she realized she hadn't eaten since last afternoon. She'd skipped dinner for some reason, but she couldn't remember for the life of her why. There were a lot of things she didn't remember tonight.

She threw on some light clothes and despite her sleepy face and the disheveled state of her brown braid, she took some credits to spend at the kitchen. But as she reached into her pack, a shock went through the ship she was traveling on. She was thrown forward and had to brace herself with her hands to keep from falling face-first onto her pack. That's right, the ship she was on was a military ship, Republic to be precise. It was called the _Endar Spire_. She always had difficulty remembering things after she just woke up. And sometimes other memories would try to surface, tugging at her consciousness, but vanishing when she tried to clutch at their strands. They were strange memories, those.

She stood waiting for an alarm sound, but none came. Maybe they'd just hit an asteroid, that happened sometimes. But suddenly another blast rocked the ship, and Jayna knew that it wasn't an asteroid. This time the alarm did go off, and red lights began to blink on the ceiling. Jayna hated capital ships. For a soldier, the only thing you could do when you were attacked was wait until your ship won (hopefully), or the others won. If they did, you could only hope they wanted to board and capture the ship instead of just trying to annihilate it, as the Sith were wont to do. But standard procedures in case of a ship attack was for the soldiers to arm themselves and treat any attack as an attack with the intent to board. So Jayna snatched up her short vibrosword from her footlocker and grabbed the blaster rifle next to it.

The door that led to the corridor went open before she could tap the palm switch and a blonde-haired soldier burst in. "Jayna! Good you're here! The good news is, they'll be trying to capture the ship. The bad news is, we can't let 'em!"

The man standing before her was her bunkmate Trask. She didn't know him all that well, since they ran opposite shifts, but she knew him enough to know that he wasn't quick to panic.

Standard procedure in case of an imminent boarding was to get any critical cargo or passengers off the ship, if there was time before the defense was organized. Jayna could guess what needed to get off the ship first. "We have to get that Jedi woman to the escape pod, right?" she asked Trask.

He nodded. "If we lose her, I'm afraid the Republic will be in very deep trouble."

Jayna had heard about a Jedi traveling on the Endar Spire, and that this Jedi had been instrumental in defeating the dark Jedi Darth Revan, a while ago. She seemed to have some sort of ability to influence battles on a large scale. Jayna didn't like Jedi much, but she had to admit they could indeed turn the tide in battle. And they'd need each and every one of them, because Malak, Revan's old apprentice, had stepped in and continued his master's work with an equal amount of ferocity.

"So let's go get her then!"

Trask nodded again. "I'll lead the way!" Good, because Jayna almost never went to the bridge – she had been on security detail in the engine control room most of the time. Trask would know the shortest way. They darted through the corridors, Jayna's vibrosword slapping painfully against her thigh, unprotected because she wasn't wearing any armour. It felt very uncomfortable to run around without at least a light battle suit, but there was no time to stop to throw an armoured shirt on. Another blast smashed into the ship, and Jayna and Trask had to lean into the wall for balance. There was a heavy grinding noise and a long vibration went through the ship.

"Damnit," Trask hissed. "They're boarding already. Much faster than we expected."

The defenses hadn't had the time to get organized, and in several boarding points, the Republic soldiers were completely overrun. Screams, shouted orders and sounds of blaster fire came out of Trask's comlink. Looks like the defense was a chaos, and it was only a matter of time before the Sith would be crawling like ants through the ship. And when they opened the next bulkhead, Jayna knew she'd been right. Three Sith had already managed to get through to the bridge access corridor, Trask's comlink belted out, and several Sith were swarming through the ship, taking out defenders as they went. Two of them were in the corridor ahead of Jayna and Trask. Luckily, they wouldn't expect anyone going in the direction of the bridge, or in any direction but the escape pods, really. Surprised, they turned around and raised their weapons, but Jayna and Trask each shot one of the Sith square in the chest, sending them both to the ground.

They shot two more Sith in the next corridor, but when they got to the bridge bulkhead, they ran into what looked like a dark Jedi, coming from the corridor opposite them. He was dressed in a cross between black robes and the metallic Sith trooper armour, but he didn't wear a helmet. He was bald, with a black goatee, and he had the typical yellow eyes most dark side followers had.

"Stand aside," the dark Jedi growled menacingly.

"We can't let him get through, Jayna," Trask Said from the corner of his mouth.

"Nope," Jayna replied. "Do we take him on together?"

Trask shook his head and holstered his blaster rifle, bringing out his vibroblade. "I'll hold him as long as I can, you get to the bridge."

"What?" Jayna asked. "You can't win against this Jedi!"

"I know," Trask said. "But the two of us together can't win either. One of us has to get to the bridge."

"Trask, I don't – " Jayna began, but Trask shouted, "To the death!" and leapt at the Jedi. The dark Jedi parried Trask's reckless attack and went into the offensive in turn. Jayna took advantage of the diversion to dart for the bridge door, and as she slipped through, she saw Trask, still defending himself fiercely, take out his blaster pistol and shoot the lock on the door. It fell down, trapping him and the Sith behind a heavy bulkhead. "Go! Get Bastila off the ship!" he shouted as the door slammed closed.

The bridge was desolate, apart from the bodies of Republic soldiers and Sith troopers. "Shit," Tanira hissed. "Where is that woman?"

Another door went open and another Republic soldier stormed in. Both Jayna and the soldier aimed their weapons at each other, but lowered them when they saw the other wasn't a threat.

"You here for Bastila too?" the man asked.

Jayna nodded. "She's nowhere on the bridge, though."

"Let's hope she already got to an escape pod then. We don't have time to look for her."

"But if she's captured, shouldn't we also – "

"No. Once the Sith have her, or know she's escaped, they won't leave this ship whole. We need to go, _now_!"

It didn't feel right to Jayna , but she supposed he was right. The Sith didn't have an interest in common soldiers like them. "Fine, let's get to the escape pods. I'm Jayna, by the way."

The other nodded. "Carth Onasi. Come on, I know the way."

They only encountered one lone Sith on the way to the escape pods, and he was easily dispatched. The escape pod bay itself had been used by quite a few of the _Endar Spire_'s passengers. There were only three left, all the rest had been jettisoned. Carth slammed down the safety handle of one of the escape pods, and the pod's cockpit window went up.

Jayna stood waiting, looking around insecurely.

"There's nothing we can do, Jayna. We can only hope she's somewhere down there on Taris. If the Sith have her, then it's too late no matter what. But if she's on the planet, and we can find her, we may have a chance."

"As if the Sith won't arrest her down there immediately."

"They might," Carth admitted, "but we have the advantage that they're not looking for common soldiers."

Jayna sighed and got in the escape pod. Those things had room for three, but they couldn't wait until more people joined them.

"Ready?" Carth yelled at Jayna behind him. "This is gonna give a bit of a shock!"

He slammed down the EJECT-lever and with a bang, the escape pod was jettisoned from the _Endar Spire_'s side. Jayna's vision blurred, and then readjusted itself. They sped toward the planet Taris with an incredible speed. Carth's teeth were gritted as he tried to use the pod's pathetically limited steering ability to get the small craft to penetrate the planet's atmosphere without reducing itself to a charred chunk of metal.

"Carth, look," Jayna said quietly.

"Eh?" Carth asked, his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth as he frantically tried to turn the pod's yoke.

"Up there. The ship."

Carth turned his head and along with Jayna, he saw the last moments of the _Endar Spire_ as it broke in two and then slowly exploded from the inside out.

"She was a fine ship," Carth grunted, focusing his attention back to the reticent control yoke. Jayna kept looking though, at the _Endar Spire _and the enormous black ship that hung above it. She'd heard of it, but this was the first time she actually saw the _Leviathan_, Darth Malak's ship. It was enormous. The haze around the cockpit turned a bright orange, and became so opaque she simply couldn't see anything but orange. The temperature inside the little pod became so high that sweat pushed itself out of her pores. The pod shook and squealed, and then the orange dissipated and it was blue around them.

"Close one," Carth muttered. "Look, that's Taris down there."

Below them lay an enormous city of blue buildings. It looked pretty, but Jayna knew that what they saw was only the Upper City, the place where the rich could live. The poor lived in the Lower City, a disgusting maze of dirty corridors that never saw any sunlight or clean air, and was dominated by swoop gangs terrorizing the destitute and sickly populace. The city sped toward them at a breakneck speed.

"Do you know how to land this thing?" Jayna asked at the back of Carth's head.

"Land?" he repeated. "These things don't land, Jayna. They stop when they've crashed into enough things."

"Steer over there then," she said. "Looks like a derelict building."

"Mhm. Wouldn't want to kill innocent people planetside."

The pod's feeble rudder sent them veering toward the derelict complex, and when Carth opened the flaps, their speed lessened palpably, though it'd be a very rough landing at the least.

"Hang on to your drawers!" Carth yelled as they hurtled closer to the abandoned building. It came closer at a dangerous speed, until the escape pod pounded into it with a terrible smash.

Jayna's head was knocked into the side of the cockpit and she fell into darkness.


	5. Upper City

**F****IVE**

**Taris, an abandoned apartment**

**19:58**

The sun was setting as she woke up with a terrible headache. She felt as if she'd been trampled by a Bantha. Her mouth was dry and her joints ached.

"Welcome back," the man standing over her said. Who the Hell was he? Wait, she remembered. The soldier she had been in the escape pod with. No idea what his name was, though.

Jayna groaned a response. The lights were stark and painful in her eyes. The man bent down over her and there was a sting in her arm. A warm feeling passed through her and she immediately felt better.

"There," the man said. "Kolto pack. That should get you functioning again."

Carth, she remembered. That's what he'd said his name was. She tried to get up, but her body was quick to inform her that that was not a good idea.

"Easy there," the man said, quite redundantly, "It's a bit early for you to get up."

"Where is this?"

"Taris. We had to escape here after the _Endar Spire_ was destroyed. You remember?"

"… vaguely, yeah."

"We crashed our pod into the side of an abandoned apartment and you lost consciousness."

"How long was I out?"

"Half a day or so, you've had a bad concussion, but no bones broken, I think."

"I'm… hungry."

"Yeah, I thought you might be, so I took some time to delve into the wreckage of our pod and wrench out the emergency rations. They should be able to keep us fed until we find a way off this rock, hopefully _with_ Bastila."

"Who?"

"Bastila. The Jedi we were looking for on the _Endar Spire_."

Oh, right, that.

"You don't wake up too fast, do you?" Carth laughed. "Well, I suppose that can be expected with such a knock on the head.

Jayna brought her arm up and felt an enormous, painful bump on the side of her head. Must have been a hard hit. "Could you… hand me a bluemilk bag?"

"Sure," Carth said, handing her a white bag filled with blue milk, a liquid from some kind of desert world that had a powerful calming and rehydrating effect. It was also reputed to counter alcohol-intoxication, but Jayna had never tried to use it that way. She swallowed the first mouthful of blue milk, and as soon as it realized drink was on the way, her throat greedily drained the entire pouch with big, greedy gulps. Jayna sighed contentedly and a rather loud belch escaped her mouth.

"Sorry," she said, only a bit embarrassed.

"No worries. On some planets, a good burp is an expression of appreciation for the cook."

"Didn't know that."

"Yeah, well," he said, getting up. "As soon as you're feeling better, we'll go look for Bastila."

"If she's even on the planet."

"Well, there have been news reports of other escape pods crashing on Taris, so if we're lucky, Bastila was in one of them. Unfortunately, they fell into the Lower City layer, so we might have to get our hands dirty to get to them."

"How so?"

"Taris' Lower City is a pretty mean place, apparently. The Upper City, where we're in now, is the home of the rich folks. They toss their scraps and garbage down to the Lower City, where people try to live off them. It's no surprise that the scavengers on the lower levels often kill each other over it. So yeah, it's pretty rough down there."

"Well, it won't be anything we can't handle, right?"

"No, I suppose not. Still, it won't be easy. Now you go on and rest, and we'll head out in the morning, when you're back on your feet."

The kolto pack had done wonders, and the next morning, Jayna felt good as new. Her stomach growled, but she finally managed to get it to be quiet. The emergency ration food was bland, but she was so hungry she would have eaten her shoe and even liked it.

"There's a spare light battle suit in the escape pod," Carth said. "Best put it on. We might get in trouble, and if we do, we don't want you running around with just some flimsy shirt on."

"Nope, suppose not." She didn't mind. She had always felt better wearing something heavy.

"Here's your vibrosword and blaster rifle. I'll give you some privacy."

Jayna nodded.

* * *

After she'd changed clothes, she felt a lot better. The heavy fabric around her was comforting, as were the blaster rifle and vibroblade at her belt.

Carth seemed to be more of a pistol-specialist. The two weapons at his belt were heavily customized, and the holsters were specially made for being quick on the draw. They walked out of the derelict apartment complex together, and emerged into the cold morning air of the Upper City, a sprawling mosaic of platforms with buildings attached to them.

"Right," Carth said. "First thing to do is find a way to get into the Lower City. This planet is under Sith occupation, and they've been trying to restore order. Well, _their_ kind of order. They probably won't want anyone from the Upper City snooping around."

"The Upper City seems to be crawling with them as well," Jayna said, looking at the people walking across the platforms. Many were just regular civilians going about their business, but there were a lot of Sith patrols marching between them as well, their silver armour standing out between the drab civilian clothing, which was probably their intention. There were far more patrols than were needed to keep the peace, but knowing the Sith, their main purpose was to flex their muscles as visibly as possible, so no one even thought of causing a disturbance. Unfortunately, many people were fooled by the Sith' efficiency, letting themselves be deceived into thinking the Sith were so powerfully manifesting to protect the citizens. Of course, what they never saw were the dissenters being taken from their homes at night, the rebels tortured and made to disappear, or the random cruelty the Sith inflicted when no one was watching. Or the fact that the Sith didn't hesitate to wipe out an entire population if they didn't let themselves be occupied.

"The Sith like to keep a powerful presence," Carth said, speaking her thoughts out loud.

"So, first thing we do is look for a way into the Lower City, right?"

"Yeah," Carth agreed. "But I doubt the Sith'll just let us go right on in."

"We'll see about that later. First we need to find a way, then we'll make a way."

A Sith shouldered into her, and Jayna barked, "Watch it!"

The Sith stopped and brought the black, polished visor of his helmet close to her face. "You were saying, citizen?" he asked with the cultured, educated accent all those Sith seemed to have.

"That you should watch it," Jayna replied, unfazed.

The Sith let out a short, humourless laugh behind his visor. "I doubt you are in any position to say what I should, or should not, do."

Jayna opened her mouth to reply, but Carth interrupted. "Leave it, Jayna."

"That's right," the Sith' patrol partner said. "Listen to your friend, and you might see another day."

But the first Sith had a different opinion. "I'm actually hoping you won't take his advice. Go on, try something. Anything will do."

Carth saw Jayna's hand slowly going for the vibroblade at her side, and took her arm. "Jayna, _leave_ it!"

"What's it going to be, little girl?" the second Sith asked, his sneer almost visible through his opaque visor.

"Jayna, let's _go_!"

Jayna clenched her teeth and kept staring at the Sith' visor. Carth gave her arm another tug. "Jayna! Come on!"

Eventually she backed off. Both Sith laughed. "That's it," the one who had shouldered into her said. "Go and run for your mother."

Jayna moved back in their direction, but Carth pulled harder, and she gave in, turning her back to them.

"What the Hell was that?" he snapped.

Jayna kept her teeth clenched as they walked.

"Hey! I asked you a question!"

She stopped and faced Carth. "Thanks for making me look like a wimp!"

"Making you look like a wimp? What are you on about?" he asked, wide-eyed. "Do I need to remind you why we're here? Let me give you a hint: it's not for picking fights with Sith, who, if you've forgotten, are present in legions on this stinking planet!"

Jayna clenched her teeth again and looked away.

"And if you've got such an enormous ego", Carth went on, "that you have to get into fights with everyone who is rude to you, I'm surprised you're still alive!"

"So what, I should just let them insult me?"

Carth sighed and shook his head. "There's nothing wrong with standing up for yourself, but you should recognize the situations where people are just drawing you out! Those Sith wanted nothing more than to get you riled up, and you were giving them exactly what they wanted!"

"I could have taken them," she said quietly.

"That's not the point! You let yourself get angered by two bullies, and they didn't even have to do a lot of effort!"

Jayna looked at the ground. "It's just… I don't know. It's so hard to just stand there and let them insult me."

"Why? They're obviously two small-minded bullies who're just looking for an excuse to hurt someone. I hate the Sith too, for more reasons than you know, but if we really want to get rid of them, we'll have to aim a bit higher than just two bullies on the street."

She nodded. "You're right. It just feels like I'm weak for not standing up to them."

"Not weak; smart. They weren't looking for a hero, they were looking for a fool."

"Yeah, I know. Well, part of me knows, but another part just feels like a coward if I let people insult me."

"You're not a coward for ignoring them. They're the cowards for looking for targets to pick on when they outnumber them a hundred thousand to one."

"Yeah, I suppose so."

Carth smiled. "Okay. So next time they want to pick a fight with you, don't forget what I said – they're the cowards, not you."

Jayna nodded. "Hey, what did you mean when you said you hate the Sith for more reasons than I know?"

He bit at his lower lip and looked away. "I… I think it's best if we leave that for another time."

"Sure? I mean, I don't want to pry or anything, but I'm just saying you don't have to worry about telling me some things about you."

"It's not that. It's just… well, they're painful memories. I might tell you someday, but today's not really the time."

"Fair enough."

They walked on, across the platforms of Taris, passing several shops and residential blocks. One of the buildings was a droid shop. Carth pulled Jayna's sleeve when they passed it.

"Might not be a bad idea to see if they've got any droids for sale."

Jayna blinked. "Why?"

"Well, the way I see it, if we don't get permission to go into the Lower City, or if we can't get in even when we do have permission, a droid would be helpful if we need to disable some locks or hack into security systems."

"That's a lot of 'if's".

"I know, I know, but it's worth considering?"

Jayna shrugged. "I suppose it won't do any harm to go take a look."

One of the utility droids chirped and tweeted a cheerful greeting when Jayna and Carth came in. "Heya, little fellow," Carth greeted back. The droid beeped an acknowledgment.

"He seems to like you," the Twi'lek woman behind the counter sang out. "Welcome to Droids by Janice!"

"I take it you're Janice?" Jayna asked in a slightly bored tone.

"That's right, Janice Nall at your service."

"Is he for sale?" Carth asked, pointing his thumb at the silvery utility droid.

"T3-M4? Ah, no, I'm sorry. He's been commissioned by another buyer. Someone… well, someone who has so much cash he can afford to waste it on just about every peripheral device available for droids."

"Shame, we could use a droid like him."

The woman smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry. I do, however, have another T3 droid for sale, with about the same specifications, but not as many peripherals. His designation is T3-H8."

A reddish droid quite like the first one rolled out from behind the counter, but as it did so, its tweeting turned into a garbled warbling, and smoke started to emerge from his motivator.

"Oh. I'm sorry, he seems to be in need of some more repairs."

"Apparently," Jayna said flatly. "Do you have any other droids for sale?"

"I'm sorry, no. Those stinking Sith confiscated all my other droids, and with their rotten blockade, I can't even get new parts in."

"Oh."

"And what's worse, those damned humans won't buy anything from a Twi'lek. Damn bigots." She seemed to suddenly remember who she was speaking to, and quickly added, "Present company excepted, of course," with a nervous smile.

"Of course," Jayna said, trying to sound as neutral as possible.

The rest of Taris was rather uninteresting, but when they walked past a medical bay, Jayna stopped.

"What's wrong?" Carth asked.

"Nothing, but maybe they sell medpacs there."

Carth shrugged off his backpack and put it down, rummaging inside. "Well, we still have several from the escape pod's emergency kit, but those are pretty weak. Maybe it's a good idea to buy a few stronger ones."

Jayna nodded and they went inside.

"Hello, and welcome to Zelka Forn's clinic." The elderly human staring at a computer monitor said. "Just so you know, I don't care where you got your wounds, I don't care who you are, I don't care about anything. I help everyone, regardless of race, homeworld, or political persuasion."

"That's commendable of you," Carth said, "but we're not hurt."

"Oh?" the doctor said, turning to face them. "Then what brings you here?"

"We were wondering if you had any medpacs for sale," Jayna said.

"Ah!" the elderly doctor exclaimed. "I imagine I might have some spare ones lying around."

"How much are they?"

"Oh, I can let them go for 25 credits each, I think."

"We'll take two."

"Splendid. Here you are," he said, handing them two medpacs. "They only have a potence of 2, but they're good for flesh wounds and blaster burns, which I imagine you may be seeing a lot of, dressed as you are," he said with a wink.

"Yeah, I don't think we'll be needing anything stronger than that for now." Carth agreed, handing him fifty credits. "Unless there's a lot of disease on this planet?"

"Oh no," Forn said. "Unless if you go into the Undercity."

"The what now? Don't you mean the Lower City?"

"No, I mean The Undercity. It's even below the Lower City, and you need to be careful of diseases there, especially the Rakghoul disease."

"What in the world is a Rakghoul?" Jayna asked, looking up from her backpack she was stuffing the medpacs in.

"Well, they used to be humans, but they got infected with Rakghoul disease, and they became bloodthirsty, crazy monsters. If you see one of them, be careful not to get bitten, or you might turn into one yourself."

"I see. And is there no cure?"

"No. I can treat almost all diseases, except Rakghoul." The doctor thought for a while. "By the way. You look like the kind of people who get around a lot. The Sith are rumoured to have developed a serum which can stop the disease in its early stages. If you'd ever come across one, please bring it to me so I can replicate it and distribute it to Rakghoul victims."

"The Sith aren't likely to simply give it to us."

"No, I am aware of this, and I will not have you killing over it, but like I said, should you manage to come across it, please bring it to me so I can help the people who have been infected."

"If you're going to use it to help people, then we won't hesitate to bring it to you," Carth said. "If we run across it, that is."

"Yeah," Jayna grunted, shrugging her backpack back on. "The Sith aren't likely to just leave them lying around with a bouquet of flowers and a poem tied to them."

"No, I imagine that's not likely," the doctor said with a chuckle.

"Well, if we find some, we'll bring it by. Good day, doctor."

"Right, so now we have some more medpacs, but we're still in a place where we won't have any need of them. Where to now?"

"How 'bout we look for a cantina somewhere," Jayna said. "If there's any place we can find info, it's there."

"Good idea. I'm sure some helpful citizen can direct us to one."

The citizens weren't all that helpful, but eventually one of them did the effort of raising his arm and pointing toward a building on a nearby platform.

* * *

"Why are there always Bith playing music and Twi'leks dancing in these places?" Carth asked Jayna in a bored tone.

"Would you rather see those Bith dance?"

"Heh. Point taken."

"Strange," Jayna said. "Do you know that card game that all those people are playing?"

"Yep. Called Pazaak. A lot of planets have Pazaak halls. And for every Pazaak hall, there's a thousand losers who wasted all their money on it."

"So it's just like any gambling game then?"

"Yeah, except that the cards and rules are the same on every planet. So it's really popular. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it yet."

"Yeah, so am I. How does it work?"

Carth shrugged. "No idea. I'm sure one of those Pazaak sharks would be glad to teach it to you. But it won't be cheap."

"Might be a good way to make some money."

"Um, didn't you hear what I said? Most people end up without a single credit."

"I'm not most people."

He grinned and shook his head. "Nope, you're more arrogant than most people."

Jayna shrugged. "I'm just confident."

Carth said nothing, wisely swallowing his remark about the two Sith bullies earlier. Jayna had already walked over to a table to observe the game. A Bith was playing against an Aqualish, and losing miserably. The Aqualish was chuckling in his blubbery, chortling laugh as he dropped his last card, and the Bith had to let the game go.

"Looks easy," Jayna said to Carth, who had come to stand beside her.

"Only as easy as the skill of your opponent."

The Aqualish apparently understood Basic, because he beckoned her to sit at his table after the Bith had gathered up his cards and left.

"I don't have a deck," Jayna said. The Aqualish pointed at the bartender who tossed her a box, shouting, "House deck for five credits, return when finished!"

Jayna caught the deck and sat down opposite the Aqualish, who slid twenty-five credits across the table. Jayna did the same thing.

"Initiation bet," Carth informed her. "Normally you play for much more money."

The game started, and while Jayna lost the first set, she got an even twenty on the second, without having played a single of her four hand cards. The Aqualish had already wasted two. He chortled appreciatively when she won the third set as well. When she claimed the fourth set and defeated the Aqualish, he clapped his hands and slid the fifty credits toward her.

"See? Told you it was easy."

Carth was unimpressed. "Maybe. You got lucky this time, I reckon."

"Did I?" Jayna said, raising her eyebrow. Then she slid the fifty credits back to the center of the table. The Aqualish gave a curt nod and slid back fifty credits of his own.

After three sets, Jayna was down one to two, but she still had all her hand cards, while the Aqualish only had two left. She used two of her cards to come back on equal ground.

The last set had her at a score of fifteen, and the Aqualish at a score of sixteen. Jayna put down her +5 card, and the Aqualish got lucky, drawing a four.

"Tie game," Carth remarked redundantly.

The extra set turned into a nail-biter, with Jayna having one card in her hand, and the Aqualish holding on to his one card. The scores were 18 for Jayna and 15 for the Aqualish, and Jayna had to draw.

"Best stand," Carth advised.

Jayna shook her head.

"Jayna, you have an 18, that's a good score. If you draw two or more, you're bust."

"Trust me."

Carth sighed and rolled his eyes.

Jayna drew a +3 card, putting her at 21. The Aqualish reached for the credits, but Jayna laid down her final hand card, a -1. Her opponent buzzed pensively and went for another card, drawing a +3, putting him at 18.

"He has a +1 in his hand, so he'll have to draw again. The chances of him drawing another +1 are slim at best," Jayna remarked. "If I'd stood, he'd have me now."

The Aqualish drew another card, a +4, putting him at 22. He shook his head and slid the hundred credits toward her, tossing his +1 on the table in the process. He uttered a guttural congratulation and left the table.

"Okay, you owe me an explanation now," Carth said. "How did you know he had a +1?"

Jayna shrugged. "I don't know. I just knew. It was obvious from the way he acted." She scooped up the Pazaak cards and slid them back into the box.

"No it wasn't. He kept his face perfectly straight."

"Yeah, well, I just knew. I can't explain it either."

"Something to think about," Carth remarked.

Jayna only shrugged again and tossed the Pazaak deck back to the bartender, who tried to catch it, but instead got hit in the forehead by the box. The deck tumbled down between bottles, and the bartender snatched it back up.

When they went to sit at a table and order a drink, two Rodians moved past them and started speaking to a goggle-wearing man in curious blue armour sitting at a table. The man got up and simply said, "One."

The Rodians protested in their strange language. The man in blue armour only responded by saying, "Two."

The two Rodians raised their voices, shouting in indignation.

"Three."

Before the Rodians could even react, the man in blue had already tossed a flash grenade between them, and before the white flash cleared, the two Rodians were already on the ground, with smoking holes through their torsos.

"Hey!" Jayna shouted. "That was completely unnecessary!"

The bounty hunter turned to her, and only said, "One."

"Don't you start that with me, goggles! Save that for Rodians who admire you because you're such a successful bounty hunter!" Jayna said sarcastically.

"Two."

"Let it go, Jayna," Carth said quietly. "This guy is clearly a bastard, but there's nothing we can do about it anymore now."

She thought for a while and then nodded. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. No use wasting ammunition on this antisocial laserbrain."

The bounty hunter smirked. "Smart."

They left the man in blue alone and sat down at the counter, ordering drinks.

"I didn't know you spoke Rodese?" Carth asked.

"I don't, really. But I'm good at understanding languages."

"I see. So you knew what that was about?"

She nodded. "Yeah, those Rodians wanted to talk to that goggle-berk because they admired him for being such a successful bounty hunter. But he doesn't seem to like admirers."

Carth sighed and shook his head. "The world's gone crazy. Shooting people because they admire you."

"Bartender," Jayna shouted. The barman turned his head toward her. "Yeah?"

She motioned for him to get closer. "Do you have any idea how to get into the Lower City?"

The bartender grinned. "Thinkin' of goin' for an adrenalin prowl?" he asked conspiratorially.

Jayna had no idea what he meant, but she replied, "Sort of, yeah," anyway.

He grinned even wider, nodding as if they were kindred spirits, and said, "Two blocks down, there's an elevator. The Sith guard it, but if you can find a way to fool them, they'll let you through."

"And you wouldn't happen to know of such a way?" Carth asked.

"Sure. Just tell them you're bounty hunters or something. They don't mind if people go down there to shoot each other up."

"Thanks," Jayna grunted, leaving ten credits on the counter and motioning Carth to get up.

Indeed, two buildings further, there was an elevator guarded by a Sith in black and silver armour.

"Now what?" Carth asked.

"Well, we could shoot him, but that wouldn't exactly be discrete."

"Not really, no."

"So we'll just tell him we're bounty hunters and hope he doesn't mind people going down there to shoot each other up."

The Sith raised his weapon as they approached. "Stop right there, citizen. Access to the Lower City is restricted."

Jayna nodded. "We know. We're bounty hunters with targets in the Lower City."

"Right, then I'll need to see your licences," the Sith said, holding out his hand.

Jayna and Carth were unsure what to do. Did bounty hunters need licences here?

"No licence, eh?" the Sith asked, then sighed when they didn't reply. "Ah, I don't care. Anyone who wants to go down there and blast some troublemakers is alright in my book. Just be careful down there, those swoop gangs will take a shot at anybody. Even our Sith patrols have come under fire."

Carth nodded curtly. "Thanks. We'll be careful."

The Sith slid a passcard through a reader and the elevator door to the Lower City opened.


	6. Beneath the Surface

**SIX**

**Taris, The Lower City**

**10:22**

"Friendly for a Sith," Jayna said as they descended.

"Yeah. After all that's happened, it's sometimes hard for me to keep in mind that a lot of Sith soldiers are just people like us, only misled."

"Odd though, isn't it? Being able to build such a huge army on deception?"

Carth shook his head. "Don't make the mistake of thinking the higher-ups are anything but ruthless killers. The guys and gals stationed on worlds like these are little shrimps, most of them not even realizing what they're doing is evil. But the troops that are part of the invasion fleets and the subjugation armies don't have even that excuse."

The elevator door slid open, and a long hallway stretched out before them. It was empty and derelict, except for three people who stood a few metres further, apparently having an argument. Two of them looked like small-time criminals, but the third was dressed in more expensive clothes.

"You tell Kang we get paid all in advance!" one of the scruffy fellows spat at the expensively-dressed one. He only laughed and shook his head.

"I'm afraid you don't understand. It's Davik Kang who tells you when you get paid, not the other way around. And don't even think about working for your own account. You know what happened to the last freelancer."

"Don't try to scare us! Davik Kang isn't here now, and he won't be here to save your ass if we decide we've had enough of your whining!"

"I had a feeling that this would be the atmosphere of our negotiations. But not to worry, I'm sure you'll see it my way after you see the associate I brought with me."

The two thugs drew their weapons. None of the three had noticed Jayna and Carth standing a few metres further.

"I don't care how many flunkies you've brought with you, friend," one of the two scruffy-looking criminals growled. "I'm still going to beat you like a Twi'lek stepchild!"

"Go on, try it. I'm begging you," a new voice said calmly. From behind the corner came a broad-shouldered man with short, squarely cut dark gray hair. He had the eyes and scars of a man who had seen more battles by himself than an entire squad put together. And the heavy repeating blaster cannon he had leveled toward them only enforced that point.

"C… Canderous? I didn't know you worked for Kang now?" one of the thugs said, his mouth wide open.

"You know now," the other responded with the same threatening calm tone. "Now get out of here."

The thugs looked at each other and then one of them stammered, "Tell… Tell Davik he can pay us when the job's done."

The well-dressed man smiled and said, "I knew you were reasonable human beings."

They said nothing and just walked away at a brisk pace, occasionally looking over their shoulders.

"Davik wasn't wrong to hire you, Canderous Ordo."

"No one's ever been wrong to hire me," the broad man replied flatly. Then they walked off.

"Looks like this Davik Kang is one of the heavyweights around here," Jayna said as they walked on.

"Yeah, I've heard that name before. One of the big guys in the Exchange, an interplanetary organized crime group. Not the simplest of people. And not the kind you want to mess with."

"Well, let's hope we won't have to."

Carth nodded. "There's a cantina over there. Maybe we can get some info on those escape-pod crashes. As long as we don't mention who was in those pods, we should be fine."

A bouncer addressed them in Rodese when they tried to enter.

"No, we're not Sith," Jayna replied.

Another question in Rodese.

"Nope, not here to cause trouble either."

The bouncer nodded and said a few more words.

"Alright," Jayna replied.

"What was that about," Carth said when they went in.

"Just standard bouncer-talk. 'You leave your problems and attitude at the door' and all that."

"Oh."

They sat down and ordered drinks. "We need to be careful about who we speak to," Carth said, leaning toward her conspiratorially. "If anyone knows about those escape pods, you can bet your right ear that it's the Exchange. But they'll ask for an enormous price, probably."

"Yeah. Unless there's another way. I could beat them at a game of Pazaak, maybe?" she said with a wink.

"Uhm… we'll see about that."

"And it's not certain if – "

Jayna was interrupted by the indignant cry of a tavern patron as someone shouldered past him. She and Carth turned their heads to look at the source of the noise. A young blue-skinned Twi'lek girl had barged in, and she was looking around wide-eyed. Her eyes fell on Jayna and Carth and she rushed toward them.

"Help me please," she panted.

Carth calmly asked her, "What's going on?"

"They took Zaalbar! Slavers! They took Zaalbar!"

"Who the Hell is Zaalbar?"

The girl got more panicked by the minute. "Zaalbar's my friend! He's a Wookiee. We went into the Undercity, and the slavers got him! You've got to help me!"

"What kind of slavers?"

"Gamorreans! Please, I need help! They'll sell Zaalbar into slavery and I'll never see him again! We've been friends ever since I was little!"

"Fine, we'll help", Jayna said wearily. "Where are they?"

"The Undercity!"

Jayna waited for her to explain, but when she didn't, she asked, "And where is the Undercity?"

The Twi'lek pulled Jayna's sleeve. "Come on, I'll show you!"

"Easy there," Carth said, still calm as always.

"We can't use the main elevator, because the Sith won't let anyone down, saying it's too dangerous," the Twi'lek explained hastily as they rushed through the corridors, "but I know another elevator that the Sith don't know about."

She led them through several narrow hallways, and then pulled up a hatch that closed off a crawlspace.

"That looks creepy," Carth remarked, but they squeezed themselves through it. When they came out, they stood in front of a pair of ancient elevator doors. The elevator itself was slow and not very reliable-looking, but it got them where they needed to go.

"We'll end up at the sewers, close to where the Gamorreans are."

"How many Gamorreans, exactly?"

"About four."

Jayna shrugged. "Shouldn't be a problem."

"We'll need to look out for Rakghouls too," the Twi'lek said.

"'We'?" Carth asked. "I don't think so, girl. You stay behind, _we'll_ deal with them."

The Twi'lek rolled her eyes indignantly. "I can take care of myself!"

Carth chuckled. "Sure you can."

"I'm serious!"

He chuckled again. "Look, just because you have a blaster doesn't mean you can use it. I mean, how old are you? Fourteen?"

"Don't start that with me," the Twi'lek snapped. "Don't treat me like a little girl!"

Carth chuckled. "Well, you _are _– "

"All my life I've had old geezers like you trying to tell me what to do. I've never listened to any of them, so you might as well give up."

Jayna shrugged. "Let her come if she wants to, Carth. It's not like leaving her back here is safe either."

"No, I suppose not," Carth admitted. "But stay behind us, okay?"

The Twi'lek rolled her eyes. "Yes daddy."

The elevator banged to a stop.

"We're here – sewer level," the girl said. "Let's be careful, okay? And if we run into rakghouls, be sure to shoot them from a distance. If you let them get close, they might infect you with rakghoul disease."

"What happens then?" Tanira asked, scanning the dark sewer corridor before them, blaster rifle at the ready.

The Twi'lek hesitated. "It's… not pretty. If they claw or bite you, they spread their disease, and after a while, you become a… a mindless beast like them. As time passes, you change physically too… Until you're a rakghoul like them."

"What kind of physical changes?"

"Well, first all your hair falls out, and your spine grows deformed. After a while your skin becomes white and scaly, and your teeth and claws grow. But… before _that_ happens, you've already gone crazy, so I doubt you'd care."

"Sounds nice," Carth said darkly, stepping out of the elevator beside Jayna.

"Yeah, well, chances are we won't run into them here. The Gamorreans swing the club in the sewers, and they aren't too keen on rakghouls either."

They advanced to the end of the corridor. It was sealed off by a large bulkhead. "They won't be too keen on us, either," Jayna said.

The Twi'lek only gave an apologetic look.


End file.
